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It’s unclear how or if this practice addresses the growing threat of rising sea levels and rising water temperature; coral reefs can recover, but any thorough restoration effort must address the root causes of the sickness. Otherwise, the effort becomes something like lung transplant surgery for a smoker… it might make the person live longer, but a more effective solution would be to quit smoking. It’s unclear how much agricultural pesticides, industrial runoff, and fishing practices have damaged the reefs.

Zero waste has become a hot topic. Think about: nothing produced that is not reused. This is the fundamental nature of a sustainable system. Sustainable development is defined as “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (from Wikipedia). However, the term “sustainable development” is an awkward concept, because development in any closed system is not sustainable. With limited resources, development cannot continue at an even rate, and this is perhaps visible nowhere else as clearly as it is with human’s consumption of natural resources. The concept of zero waste is something that is sustainable and is achievable.

By 2020, Kamikatsu Japan is preparing to have no waste. This is a massive undertaking, even for a city with a population of only 2,000. Japan as ground zero for no-waste lifestyle ( Amelia Newcomb, The Christian Science Monitor: December 16, 2008).